Eric’s comments

My major concern with this study is the fact that DOT will be collecting data on ONLY 1 day . I don’t know how reliable their data collection is in terms of day-to-day and month-to-month variation, but they tried to convince us that they will do their best to get a “typical” reading (in terms of traffic, pedestrian, cyclist counts, .But as we said at the meeting on 4Dec2007, depending on what events are happening (Javits, Hammerstein, Broadway shows, etc) on that day, the number of vehicles and pedestrians can vary CONSIDERABLY. So my recommendation would be to get at least 2, preferably 3, independent readings for each time-of-day counts. For instance, the noon-2pm reading should be taken on 3 separate days, preferably on different months/seasons, then averaged together.

Noise level data collection. Conceivably it should be very easy for the data collectors to wear a noise level measurement device that would collect the level of noise throughout the time-period they are there. This should be low involvement for the data collectors and could potentially provide important information about noise. If we/they need to coordinate with the DOH, we/they should.

Will the DOT collect a whole new set of data AFTER the implementation of the recommendations in order to see if any of them were successful in the stated goals (traffic reduction, safer streets for pedestrians/cyclists, etc.)?

Will the impact of potentially significantly more postal trucks be taken into account when predicting the future traffic patterns?How about all the garbage and recycling trucks that will be coming to our community once we get the transfer stations on the Hudson River?

For additional intersections for data collection:

Figure 1, page 11 (Turning Movement Counts and ATR Counts), unless these have already been studied, as the DOT mentioned (these are all heavily utilized intersections with many “conflicts”)

42nd and 9th
34th and 8th, and 9th, and Dyer, and 10th
Below 34th and above 45th

For time-of-day for data collection, I’d recommend Sunday between 4pm and 6pm instead of 12noon to 2pm. Same thing for Saturday.There should be midweek day, Saturday, and Sunday readings (2 or 3 of each, separated by at least a month. For the midweek day, I think the proposed times are good (7-9am, noon-2pm, 4:30-6:30pm).

One Response to Eric’s comments

Eric , excelent point onteh single day collection . We ahve all been befuddled by the variations in traffic form day to day. Seems ot me that one week is the minimum and then work on an average of two worst cases…